Alright, so the end of the world did not happen, doesn't mean the Mayans were wrong, just means there's more idiots in the world who'll take any excuse they can find to be a doomsayer.

I've been working on a nice big list of DTL features - for those who've been using it. You can view the sources and issue tracker on GitHub, and you can download the compiled binaries from Google Code.

New features 1.0.9

* Increase/decrease difficulty buttons added to main interface.
* Main interface slightly narrowed, to allow more room for the second data view panel.
* Fixed a number of missing popup button descriptions.
* The bar is now filled with random patrons.
* Added "Active zone" to dynamic data view, which will show the dynamic data for the current parent zone and it's sub locations.
* Last visited zone (for use with "Active zone") is now remembered between sessions.
* Last used dataview combobox row is now remembered between sessions.
* The webbrowser is now "silent". Meaning, the occassional javascript error you might get upon launch will no longer occur.
* Added ability to call 'Soul Stealer', 'Flaming Weapon', 'Legendary
Luck' and 'Reaper' immortal powers from the menu for a single character.

Preference Dialog(F11):
* Added option to "warn on bursting souls", you will get a red "Souls!"
text under the FAQ button warning you your stolen souls are about to
burst free.
* Options dialog redesigned. It now uses a tabbed interface.
* Added "Dynamic Data view" option. Which adds the ability to view the
best two hunting columns for each subzone in the selected or recent
zone. This option is enabled by default, you can disable it in the
options.
* Made cube delay a preference between 200-5000ms - experiment at your own risk.
* Referral ID made into preference. Share DTL with your friends!

Data analysis dialog (F9):
* Added option to show the best 2 creatures to hunt for each location
instead of all creatures. This option is enabled by default.
* Added option to sort the "best 2" columns by kill % or by creature type.
* Added option to hide "beer dragon realms" data. Set this option in the preferences dialog. This option is enabled by default.

Inventory dialog:* Added option to limit the number of rows the auto-selection performs if you have a cube.

Back in version 1.0.7 we reached a minimum of 25 monsters for each zone, but in 1.0.8 we're on a minimum of 100 monsters! So, all the data is a lot more accurate.

Plenty more data as well, but this time all the sub zones have reached the minimum of 25 monters.

Guildwars 2

So, I got tired of WoW a good while ago, and Pandaria just doesn't really have the magnetic pull on me that TBC or WotLK did,. what's next?

I tried Diablo 3, and it just didn't have the staying power that (no doubt) everyone hoped it would have. Sure it was fun for a few weeks, but then your friends start quitting and you start to feel the repetition seeping in, and other players having more gold and better gear, an auction house that's just too expensive and no reliable way to make money... So that got tiresome as well.

I tried Aion, for a short while, it's free to play so heck why not? It's not bad, but it's a LOT like WoW in a number of ways. It's not too bad, but rather grindy even at early levels. There's not much more to it than a casual in-between game.

Then Guildwars 2 got released.
What can I say...
Pictures will tell you more than mere words.

Beautiful landscape, giant dragons. The combat is simple and yet unique and complex. Plenty of variety, world events and so much to explore! Jumping puzzles that put even the most experienced Mario players to new heights of frustration. Get this game and play it!

I'm on "Far Shiverpeaks" if anyone cares.

So, just for the heck of it I used the free 7 day activation thing to pop onto my old WoW server - Aszune. It might be just silence before the storm but the server's activity has dropped sufficiently to mark it as a "New players" server. Aszune! Which used to be marked with a big red "high" tag. Not even low, but the recommended server for new players now... Oh how it has fallen.

Anyway, I'll be counting myself among those players who aren't planning to buy the expansion. Sure, I haven't played the game in a year now, and since then only one major content patch was released - only one, that's quite poor. Mists of Pandaria is just a week and a bit away, but even though it'll allow another 5 character levels, new raids, instances, higher gear levels and more. The pokemon battles on their own already indicate which way the game is going, and it's not toward more serious raiding.

Sure, you can still "do" heroic modes, or challenge modes, but all the other problem which helped finish the game for me remain the same. Before in older expansions not all content was for everyone, even in vanilla there was the 99-1% rule,. or 97-3% more accurately. Meaning there's 3% of the players who will get to see "all" the content, the highest level raids. Be able to "complete" the game so to say. Now, I wasn't in that 3%. Probably not even in the 15% back in vanilla, but that was part of what drove me to go on, to challenge myself to do better, improve and try to "get there".
It's part of the race and the challenge that drove most of our guild later in TBC that pushed us through Tempest Keep, Serpent Shrine Caverns, Hyjal and Black Temple. And we did good. Competing against other horde guilds on our server for server first kills. (We even got a few iirc) It was fun!

We completed the Black Temple, and we were over halfway though the Sunwell when the next expansion hit us. We were gutted, obviously, that we wouldn't get to finish the instance. Later we did come back and cleared it once just for the heck of it, but with 10 extra player levels and gear it just wasn't the same.

Well, I already posted most of that nostalgia in A journey of 7 years. Back to current day. WoW as it stands now just doesn't hold up to the old feel of the game. Currently it's just a daily quest grind, and a daily dungeon run for your reputation and tokens. Progression barely even matters anymore because everyone on the server has already cleared all the dungeons and raids using the dungeon finder or normal mode (e.g. cripple mode). And, if for some reason you haven't managed to do it in the first two weeks a new instance is released, Blizzard will keep nerfing the monster health in the entire instance by 5% each few weeks until you do!

The game is being handed to you on a platter. Free gear for everyone, just as long as you log in for a few minutes every day and do your daily quests or dungeon. You'll get there, effort not needed, even the biggest moron can run along after a group of other players and spam the attack button.

Meanwhile the total subscription count is down by several million - though it may go up for a few months while some people temporarily return to experience Mists of Pandaria - and subsequently quit again when they notice it's just "more of the same" spoon fed free epics and none of the old style hard earned progress. Blizzard has even added in a boss tactics list, showing the special attacks to watch out for on each fight so you no longer have to worry about looking at WoWHead of other sites for them.

Other Pet peeves

* Monks use leather - as a main rogue player, this means every noob and new alt on the server will be rolling for gear we can use...
* Pandas for each faction. No longer will body shape alone be enough to tell who is friend of foe.
* Pokemon pet battle system. Horrible idea, aimed at a much younger generation.
* Even shorter dungeons. I like to explore, struggle and take my time in an instance, not get forced through a loot-chute for kids. Old style AV will never return, but what they did to that battleground is a clear view of how the entire game got crippled.
* Talent system dumbed down even further. I like being unique, I like having a sense of progress while leveling. This system doesn't give any of that. Sure, choice over one weak talent or another weak talent.
* Void storage, does not accept unique/legendary items - just lame.
* Graphics engine is horribly outdated and even though the landmass has received an overhaul, the game still looks must like it did 7 years ago. Blocky and cartoony. That has it's charms in a way, but when new models are being added with well over three times the detail, it makes some of the existing models feel ancient and ugly.

There are better games out there. Some free, some at least without a monthly fee.
Aion is F2p now,. Diablo 3 might entertain you for a month or few as well, GuildWars 2 has no monthly fee. And that's just the tip of the iceberg really.
Add in the fact that we're all 7 years older than since we started this game, and it's really like looking back at some dusty old boot that you might have liked to wear once, but now it's just too small to comfortably wear anymore.

You know what I hate?
The ever increasing "need" certain companies feel to block any and every kind of content they feel could harm their profits in some way. Especially since it - in most cases - does not, or has not been proven that it does.

Take for example this link. It probably won't work as you expected it to. Namely, it's a youtube video which contained two things.
* Video footage of the animated movie Final Fantasy - Advent Children - Great movie, I can recommend downloading it somewhere sometime.
* A music track by Machinae Supremacy called Skin.

The video footage consisted of clips / cutouts of "parts" of the movie, no more than 5 minutes of footage out of a 101 minute movie. About 5% of the movie, and 0% of their sound. Meaning only about 2.5% of their published content!
The music is a 5m25s track. 100% of the track.

Alas, This video contains content from Square Enix Co., Ltd., who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

So, who would you say has the greater claim whether that movie should be removed "in it's complete form", since that is what happened? Surely the party of who 100% of the material is used right? Especially since copyright allows one to make quotes or use snippets of an original work if there is a reference made to the original full work. Aside that, The party of who 100% of the material was used "does not mind" (in fact, approves) that their work is shown on youtube - they even upload stuff themselves so we can listen to high quality songs.

Meaning, in this example the actions of the party who claimed the video "and song" should be taken down from youtube, negatively affected the second party since there is now less of their content available for viewing. Personally, I'd be pissed. However, in this case Square is the "big bad company" with a lot of influence and youtube gets scared and afraid of lawsuits and takedown notices.

Arrr, there be pirates

So, what's the whole point of the copyright enforcement nowadays? Or the scare about piracy?
I'm sure you've read about MegaUpload having been taken down by the FBI in a raid, and it's owner arrested, all equipment taken away and confiscared. Also The Pirate bay being blocked banned and censored in dozens of countries.

A funny thing of the internet these days, is that as long as the site itself is still "in the air" any block can be avoided by proxies and other means. And with perhaps a few dozen "copyright hounds" who are going after the "misuse" of copyright material, and billions upon billions of users connected to the internet, how can they seriously, honestly believe that it's possible to stop every single case of copyrighted materials (no matter how small) being shared? It can't be done.

At the least they've figured out you can't get everyone anymore, but are mainly focusing on the big guys. Sadly they're still going after the occassional scapegoat mom who's son used limewire or whatever to download a bunch of songs.

Did you know, copyright in it's current form is already 120 years old? While "the internet" is barely 25 years old? (though development started about 40 years ago) Of course there have been some tweaks and modifications to copyright,. but the basics is that copyright law in it's current form is being applied to a medium for which it was not created - and with rules linked into it which can not be upheld. In fact, the current issue is that several companies are trying to uphold it through any means which is killing off valuable parts of the internet (you may dispute this obviously), and holding back innovation because copyright is being applied to "much more" than just music or books. It's being applied to every tiny little idea that they can possibly get an approved patent on.
Now, you may claim patenting and copyright are two entirely separate things, but some people seem to disagree and are brutally trying to enforce their ideas. From bouncing icons, to metallic phone borders, to rounded shapes or the number of buttons per row on a smartphone screen.

Apple sued Samsung and the jury claim Apple in the right, deciding Samsung should pay 1.049.343.540 dollar (nine freaking zeros) as compensation for the use of ideas patented by apple. I do agree the Samsung Galaxy 3 looks an awful lot like an iphone, but that doesn't mean nothing should ever look like an iphone ever again. A chair is a chair, a car looks like a car because it has 4 wheels, an engine, steering, chairs etc etc. And yet somehow nobody is getting sued over that. China is notorious about copying "working" ideas though,.. but enough on that. America's patent system is in a dire need for an overhaul along with copyright law.

Back to the music industry

If you are a music artist, writer, singer, in a band or in any way related to the music industry then you're probably familiar with the Metallica versus Napster story. Or how that ugly old dinosaur Madonna uploaded some "fake" versions of her new songs to discourage downloading. Or maybe the million dollar ipod story? (see bottom links)

Alright, got your attention?
Here's some food for thought:
* The internet is a HUGE free advertising network. Anyone sharing your music is spreading your name, your best qualities, in essence "promoting you" by spreading your calling card. Thanks to the internet many small groups have become known all around the world. Increasing in popularity, increasing their cd sales, increasing the number of heads showing up at their concerts. Without the internet, they'd still be small and unfamiliar nobodies playing in their own country.
* Companies like the MPAA(USA), Brein(Holland), Buma/stemra(Belgium) are tax funded companies who sue certain parties and individuals for copyright violation and claim they use this money to "help the artists". wrong. Only about 5% or less ever reaches the artists. The other 95% is used for ridiculously inflated salaries these companies give their seniors, as well as funding "important" claims and dragging more people to court. Another common method of getting people to pay is by threatening them to court. Most people can't face up against such terrorists (because that is exactly what they are, look up the definition. In turn giving your band a bad name, reducing sales and popularity, increasing piracy.
* How many cents do you get per cd sale? A pittance compared what the big boss up above gets. How much more would you earn if you could do 2-3 concerts a month extra if you were to lose a bit on cd sales?
* Here's the fun one: Movie rentals, cd sales, total number of people visiting concerts and so on have actually gone "up" over the last dozen years. Huh, up? But, piracy, illegal download etc? Yeah, despite that there's a lot being downloaded sales have gone up. Way up in fact. Because people are sharing and showing others what good music is. Now obviously the copyright terrorists will say "sales would have been higher if not for piracy", but this is a blatant lie / assumption on their part. It would in fact be a lot lower if not for the internet.

What do you think happened when Metallica sued Napster? An, at that time relatively small company. Indeed, it grew huge, for a short time. More people suddently found out you could download music for free and went ahead and did exactlly that. When Napster collapsed those people had their eyes opened and moved to different media. Even bad advertising, is still advertising. Often if you want something to stay small, it's best to ignore it. In essence, Metallica "caused" the whole anti piracy scare in the music industry, and it's not about to die down anytime soon.

Rich and well-to-do artists get told by their producer / contract whatever company the following: "OMG! Sales are down by 20% this year because people are downloading your songs illegally!".
What they are not told is: "Sorry we slacked down on advertising a little this year, or the people didn't like your new album so much", so we didn't make as much profit as last year. So, how do artists nowadays make money? By getting a lot of fans, doing concerts, you know "work for it", and be good. Simply making one or two songs in a studio, having the computer fix your mistakes, or worse sing the song for you. I think it's called auto-tune and it sounds absolutely dreadful. It also means you can never sing live on stage, only play-back. If you view "live" videos of a few groups on youtube you can tell (most of the time) which of them simply can't sing. The Pussycat dolls for example sound just dreadful. (Like neutered cats)

Honorable mention! Robbie Williams, Personally I don't like his music, but... He's among the few well-to-do artists that have seen the light and are actually "pro" file sharing. Cudos to the man for that. If only more of them would see the benefits of a free internet, we'd not have these copyright terrorists making the internet so restricted.

What do you think of the copyright act? SOPA, ACTA, and more?
Personally I feel it's the convulsions of a dying system desperately trying to stay alive in an ever evolving internet age. Sadly they're poisonous snakes, and a bite can and will kill you. I'm not saying you should promote piracy either, if you feel something is worth your money - buy it. But, be aware of what you spend your money on, where does your money end up, is it worth the money or could you help the artist better by other means - such as visiting a concert.

So, with patch 1.0.4 being just another day or two away, Blizzard decided to up the ante with just another tiny bit of extra stuff for the next Diablo 3 patch. The Paragon System.

It's funny this got listed today because by damn I just posted about Replayability yesterday. Lo and behold Blizzard releases the Paragon system! In essence it allows you to level an existing level 60 character to level 100 - but not under the same xp bar. Basically you remain level 60, but your paragon level will start to raise from zero to 100 after reaching level 60 and you're still farming and killing.

Now, aside the obvious "omg I am better than you" E-Peen effect what does this give you? Why would you want to spend an insane amount of time trying to reach this "new" level 100? Well I'll tell you why, since you're still reading this.

* Each paragon level adds +3% Magic find and +3% gold find. (Capping at +300, +300%)
* Each paragon level adds extra stats such as Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and/or Intelligence just like you were still normally leveling. (That's pretty useful)
* Each 10th level gives you a new ingame character portrait. (As seen below)

Aside the Paragon System they're also making Nephalem Valor give +15% xp per stack, up to 75% total. The time it'll take to reach level 100 is said to compare much like leveling from 1 to 99 back in Diablo 2. Meaning, quite a while. Whether they included a max stack of Nephalem Valor in that is anyone's guess though.

What else is 1.0.4 bringing you might wonder? Well, If you hadn't heard about it elsewhere yet, here's a short list of info for those of you too lazy to look it up:
* Enrage timers from champion packs is gone. (Bosses still enrage though, sadly)
* Various buffs to legendary and set items. (Newly dropped items ONLY)
* Magic and gold find will be capped at 300% (Thus a max level paragon will be able to drop that extra MF% na GF% set). Sucks if you just bought one, great if you didn't have time to collect one yet.
* Your Magic Find is your own - it will no longer be avaraged across the whole paty.
* Immune minions on champions (same with uniques obviously) - it'll be gone and stay that way! Rejoice!
* Fearing, Fire chains and Shielding on champions is getting nerfed, by how much is unclear.
* Various class skill buffs (and a few nerfs). For a few more details see: Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, Demon Hunter, Witch Doctor. It's too much to list here.
* Magic and Rare item drop rate from regular monsters is being increased by 300% ! That's right 300%, because saying it once is not enough. That means FOUR times as many blue and yellow items from regular monsters. Legendary items are unaffected... booh...
* Normal monsters on Inferno will gain 5-10% health, making them a slightly better challenge - to offset the increased item drop quality.
* Champions and Unique monsters on Inferno will have their health nerfed by 10-25%, to make them less ridiculously hard.
* Three extra search fields for the auction house. Meaning you can search for more pre/suffixes.
* Auction house columns sortable.
* Auctions can be cancelled at any time, as long as you don't have any active bids on the item yet.

So, get ready and be prepared to spend a lot more time on your main character.

PS: A cookie for the person who knows what the topic title refers to. (Chocolate chip even)

So, you're playing World of Warcraft and enjoying it. After a while you manage to reach the level cap on one or more characters and the next step in character progression becomes less obvious, less casual and a lot more time consuming.

PvP, Dungeons and Raids.

Or, just make another alt again and experience the same content from a different viewpoint.

No, you want to improve your "main" character. Some people are like that, myself included. Alts are nice and useful for a variety of things like farming, crafting, or just to have a backup in case one of your guild members is unable to show up and fulfill a critical role during the evening. Perhaps you enjoy trying different classes and making alts is simply the way you do it, or perhaps "leveling" is just giving you a better sense of character growth than replacing a few pieces of gear does.

Currently in WoW there's a distinct lack of ways to improve your main character. Yes I know, you can queue up for the dungeon finder until you reach a set cap of valor or heroism points, presuming you already got all the random drops that have a 10% drop chance and 2-3 others in your group are after as well... Of course the tank always leaves when the item "he" wants does not drop from the first or second boss in the instance, thus adding to your frustration.

Queueing for specific heroic dungeons is on a one day timer, and raids, well, let's not start on what a cock block those can be, right? Oh don't get me wrong, raids used to be great fun back when they were still difficult (During Vanilla and TBC that is), but right now you simply queue up for the random raid finder and hope you don't get stuck with complete idiots again like last week...

No, you want to improve your main character NOW. Character growth, improvement, get stronger, better and if possible BIGGER than the rest of the players. But, you're stuck at the level cap so questing won't do you much good, PvP is just another form of queue and random group that you may or may not succeed with. You prefer to SOLO.

So, achievements then. Is your achievement point total on 10.000+ yet? Did you run through every old dungeon and heroic for an extra 10-20 points? Loved and hugged some squirrels? What's the point in the end? Just a title, maybe a mount or a vanity pet, you can show off to your friends, or guild, not much more than that though.

You're looking for something that WoW does not yet have. Continued Character Advancement. Some might have played EverQuest and are aware of AA points (nothing to do with alcohol). These AA points are earned by questing, killing monsters etc even while at the level cap. You would gain 1 every half a level or so while at the cap and continue to earn them pretty much indefinitely. The points themselves could be spent on learning new skills for your character such as slow fall.

Another approach is the looping in BvS or remorting in Dragon Tavern, this mechanic basically sets your character's level back to 1 and allows you to play the game again, while still keeping "most of" your previous skills. What's the point in that? Well, your character becomes stronger each time he or she reaches the level cap, thus eventually you have repeated that process a few times and levelling up again becomes more efficient.
Obviously that would be hard to balance in WoW, since not everyone has weeks and weeks to spend grinding up their levels indefinitely - it'd cause an outrage or two either way. But, it would also make the world more alive, players would be all over the world intead of just focused in the latest lvl 85-90 zone and lagging and annoying everyone in the area.

What sort of "perks" would make it worth levelling up from scratch that would not make it overpowered or excessively unfair towards other players. What would give you the sense of still growing stronger, without the fact of having done the loop/remort thing becoming a mandatory requirement for any guild member recruitment.

* Achievement points? Probably, but those alone won't make it worth the while.
* Titles? Oh come on now.
* Mounts? Not really. Mount speed? Yeah that might work - as long as it's normalized in PvP zones.
* Reduced fall damage as mentioned above for AA points.
* Customizeable armor colors? Could be worth doing, but wouldn't give you any sense of growth.
* Increased rested XP bonus speed, would make re-looping faster, thus allow you to level faster the next time.
Then how about: Reduced vendor prices, reduced armor repair cost, faster movement speed while dead. A lot of stuff that would not directly affect other players' chances of succeeding in PvP or raids. (Stuff that does affect PvP could be normalized or neutralized, same while in a raid zone).

Obviously, in order for a system as such to be feasible, all the quests you've completed while leveling from 1-85 should be re-set so you can do them again. But, would you do it? Would you enjoy doing it? Would you want to see other benefits added specifically to such a system?

Update:
Diablo 3 is getting a "Paragon" system which allows you to level up to +100 levels, much like AA points, see the battle.net post. Funny that.

LoL, not laughing out loud, but League of Legends.
A DoTa inspired game that has been growing and growing in popularity the last year and a few, and yet, I can't figure out quite "why".

So, I figured what the heck, let's give it a try.
It's free to play anyhow, so at worst I lose a bit of my time.

I've played Rise of Immortals before, also because it's free to play - and available on steam, and I must say... This game is exactly the same!

Sure there's some marginal differences, more characters to choose from, bigger talent trees in LoL,. but other than that... it's all the same. No really "the same". Downright to the 5 skills, the level 18 max during a match, the buying stuff at the vendor after you die, the dozens of people who feel they are too good for the world to even be in the same game as you, even the level design/layout.

A staggering four levels total! Just like RoI, but at least 2 of the levels are different.
* Summoner's Rift
* Twisted Treeline
* The Crystal Scar
* The Proving Grounds
In total, four levels that's it. And one of them can't even be picked unless you play it as tutorial or a custom game (which only max level players join...)

Perhaps I'm missing something, like extra levels if you pay for them or such, but that is damn little diversity for any game to have.

LoL has a few things that they've done better than RoI though, the graphics for one, a better patch/updater, more free champions to try, much better and bigger community and support, and... well the rest is pretty much exactly the same.

I realize I'm going on about X vs Y, but it's kind of poor to see
games ripping off so much from one another and not see a lawsuit of some
form coming either way. Face it, RoI is just another one of a million
cheap Asian ripoff games.

What about the gameplay?

So, back to LoL.The gameplay for the most part is hit and run, hide behind your minions because your "Legend" is a glass cannon at best. You run up to a tower and get killed in 3-4 hits most of the time. So you use your "heal" and regain a staggering 10% of your health, only to find out your only heal just went on a 3 minute cooldown timer...

Ok so, the Zerg tactic doesn't work.
Presuming you're not up against other players you are quickly taught the "hit and run" or "cower behind your meat shield" tactic. Meaning, let your minions which spawn indefinitely in waves every 10 or so seconds, and get stronger as the game goes on. Or get more spawns if you manage to destroy an "inhibitor" (a certain tower/building). They take the hits from the towers so you don't have to.

That's the basics, and that is the same in each of the "four" levels that you can play.

But, then there's the PvP aspect.
Mindless hordes of minions aside, it's the players that make the difference. A Champion or Legend can output some nice damage, which ensures your minions / meat fodder can keep moving forward. Killing anything at all gives you gold, which you can then spend back at the starting location for better equipment. Sadly, you do not keep this equipment between matches - but fear not, there are many other ways to grow your character outside of the match. The gold purchased equipment store is confusing and strange, badly sorted and it'll take a while for you to know what is actually "good" for your character. Runspeed, armor, health and damage I'll let you know. Mostly armor and protection because players WILL come after you, while minions rarely do.

Each Champion has a variety of skills, though the choice is fairly limited. three basic skills, one super, and two support skills with a massive cooldown. Hit and run, kite, slow, stun, the usual stuff which you'll need in any decent PvP overpower match are all in place and you'll spend a lot of time waiting on cooldowns.

The community - from what I've seen so far is very elitist oriented. If you haven't reached character level 30 yet, then you're a nobody, a noob, someone not welcome in a group. You'll also have a hard time getting to level 30 as it's slow, mindless grinding in the same four levels again, again, and again. Usually against bots or groups full of level 30 players.

I'm sure there's a ton of fun to be had in this game, but after 2-3 re-plays of the same level. Running back and forth between towers and my minions, getting kicked out of a few levels because apparently my level was not high enough, as well as losing several games because my "team mates" decided that defending a flag is not worth their time - and thus it gets captured by the enemy bots... well,. I just haven't really seen what the great hype of this game is about.

Perhaps you can?
Feel free to enlighten me.

Warning, the following comic has moments of extreme hilarity. Asphyxiation due to too much laughter is a very real and possible danger to your health. You've been warned.

Treading ground is a comic about Nate, a 21 year old supermarket clerk stuck a bad job and his uninteresting life. Until he meets Rose, 16 years old, sexually active and very interested in Nate. In short, this comic is about jail-bait and complicated relationships due to politics.

The comic is considered "finished" at it's current 251 pages. The author has started up a follow up / alternative story which incorporates a few of the original characters over at The Idle State. Treading ground may continue later though :) (Or at least, we should all hope it does)

As before, start at page 1, and read from there. The comic has been developed over a time of about 8-9 years, so you'll find the art to vary and improve as you progress along the pages. The later pages are very good and detailed.

Along the story you'll find all the characters of the super market, friends and situations that you wouldn't wish upon anyone. Or envy others. It should be noted this comic is not for the younger readers as well ;)

Treading Ground has everything to tickle your funny bone. If you didn't know it yet, go read it now! No regrets.

Another among the giants of the web comic world is Las Lindas. Featuring 349+ pages, and over eight years of drawing experience.

The story is about a cow-girl (Not the western movie kind), Mora Linda the bovine star of the series who owns a vegetable farm. She's recruiting a number of others to help her manage the farm and work the land. Initially she's recruited the cat Miles at the bar by seduction and a good whack to the head with a frying pan... and of course a nice bit of blackmail.

Other characters include variations of Cats, Rabbits, Dogs, Lizards, Skunks and many more animals made into detailed and interesting characters. This comic holds more active character personalities than I've seen in any other web comic so far. And, they each come with a level of detailed character background and information so they may play their own part in the story to save and protect Mora's farm.

I suggest starting at page 1 if you start reading this one, but that goes for most comics. Don't miss out on the bonus comics though ;)

Putting the "cat" into Cat-fight. Go have a peek at Las Lindas, and enjoy the amazing art of Chalo in this great web comic.Also, bonus comics and fan service!

The first comic of this new year is called Abian. I can not recommend this comic for it's great art, as you will see it's fairly simple compared to some most other comics. Still miles better than my own drawings, but that aside. It's in black and white, so that can only mean one thing right? Either I was bribed into posting this, or it has a great story.

Well, I'll let you know I wasn't bribed (nobody even tried so far, surprisingly) this comic has a very entertaining - religion touched story on a view of society and it's underlying taint. No doubt 3 out of 4 readers will stop right there, but really, if you simply start at page one and read along you'll find the comic growing on you in less than no time at all.

The main character is a priest, who hunts "demons" among the population. He is granted a special sight by which he can detect who among us are the most grave of sinners and put them to justice. Little does he know that he will walk among the world as a sinner himself and, as a demon given the form of his tormentor.

The comic is an "almost" finished product. Sixteen chapters worth so far, each around 20-40 pages. It's a decent read for an evening. The prime theme of the story is "self reflection", and it's told at a good speed that will be enjoyable to read. Updates are slow, but always worthwhile.

A relatively unknown, but highly under appreciated comic in a niche of the Internet. Read Abian, it's good, and needs a warm place in your bookmarks.

Staying in last post's theme of religion, Sister Claire takes you along a fantastic story of a nun in a monastery full of other nuns.

Ok, wait, that sounds boring. Let me spice it up for you:* Witches being allergic to cats.* The lead character gets pregnant.* Devil cats and cute white cats.* Gabriel(le) of the G.O.D corporation, rising from the toilet.* The reverend mother speaking yoda.* H2O holy water from a squirt gun.* Nun-Fu, martial arts of extreme punishment.

Sounds better now, right?All the nuns have unique personalities, and have their own parts in the story. Some are trained in the art of nun-fu and will kick butt. There's also the classic evil sister, posession of the evil cat spirit, body transformations and oh hey so much more.

The first chapter is in black and white, all the rest are in full color. All intentional though, as color is introduced with the arrival of Gabriel(le).

Who knew right? The archangel was a woman.

Cats are an integral part of the storyline, as you'll quickly see.Start reading Sister Claire to find out more!And the artist's DeviantArt page for related art :)

Somewhere between heaven and hell, lies earth. And on earth, it's Sinfest.

This comic updates very often, 3-4 panel black and white, with a full color page about once every week. It's a cute comic with plenty of love and evil mixed all together in a comic that has been going for well over 11 years now. It's a big player, though at times neglected or unknown by new readers.

11 years? Updates every day, that means... Indeed that means over 4124 comic pages as of today. A huge number in terms of dedication and longevity for any web comic.

The comic features a geeky boy, a girl, a pig who's always smoking weed, god's hand, the devil, the devil's child, plenty of succubi and several more characters. There are a number of story lines which get interwoven randomly with other pages, and over the you'll see things coming back from 20 or 30 pages back.

Furthermore it's a very cute comic fit for all ages regardless of the material drawn. Perhaps a bit more in the line of "teen" because of that. No excessive nudity, though some mild language usage. Suitable for work during your lunch break.

I would say you should start at page 1, but reading over 4000 pages will take you a while. Aw heck, go read em all anyway! Read Sinfest!

Since the last comic was about two lesbians, let's put up a gay one today.

The comic Ninety Nines is about two cat/furry/alien kind of creatures called Aqua and Serge. It's a collection of random jokes and creations, offensive language abuse, dick jokes and evil blood sucking goldfinches (The small, yellow kind).

It starts out with fairly simple drawings, then moves on to full scale high res color every so and then. The number of updates are sadly lacking of late as it's a very funny comic. Regardless of your personal religious tastes.

If you are easily offended, a religious zealot, overweight - gay hating american, this comic is probably not for you. For anyone else, it's a good read with plenty of rude and amusing comedy all around.

Coffee and energy drinks all around, Ninety Nines!And one and two Deviant Art pages, in case you like the arrrrt, there is more :) (Also room to complain about the lack of updates!)

Another black and white comic, and again I'm not sharing black and white comics unless they are "really good".

Pawn most certainly qualifies true and proper for the "really good" title. Even though updates are sporadic at best, it's still alive after many many years and it's always a treat to get an update posted.

The story is about a lesbian scribe going down into a dungeon to seek it's biggest treasure. Not gold and jewels as you might expect, but it's mighty demoness guardian. Naturally that part of her quest succeeds, but getting back out of the dungeon is another task entirely.

So, start reading Pawn today! Not because it's updating every day, not because it's black and white, but because you should have started reading it years ago already! That, and it's an awesome comic.

Sarcasm, sadism, gluttony, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, plain evil and a number of other sins, all this and more in a single comic called Bear Nuts.

Beat nuts is the story of a small group of bears at the zoo. You'll find: Prozac, Gimp, Death, Gay, Lech, Evil, Tanked, Crack, Nerd, Vanity and others yet unseen playing out their intended parts in ways you proper to their names. Missions to steal from their human keepers, joyride around town, mayhem and crisis everywhere.

Using morphine on the visiting kids? No problem!

The comic is getting to it's 300th page soon, and the art style has been very steady throughout. Color and sharing all well done and pleasing to read.

Some explanation is required on this though. Basically the "roots" of the comic come from a huge collection of monster toys both big and small. Arrange the toys, take an image, put the image on your computer, edit it with photoshop for special effects and text boxes and then print that on the website.

This has been going on for a staggering 1760 pages - and still counting. The comedy is as the comic title suggest - somewhat twisted and definitely aimed at the more mature reader. But the comedy - there is SO much of it! It's hard to believe it's coming from a single crazy mind.

Plenty of people have "tried" making a web comic in a similar way, either with lego toys, or sonic the hedgehog sprites, or megaman sprites, you name it. But, like with any black and white comic, it's not the quality of the artwork that makes the comic. It's the person behind the comic that makes it into the work of art that inspires thousands to read it every time there is an update.

A very twisted kind of special even, and for all that it's just that much more awesome.

It's one of those comics where you can start reading halfway through (page 1500 or thereabouts) and with a few clicks you'll enjoy it. Personally, picture and sprite comics don't do much for me, but this one stands out of the lot by a decent head (and tail). It has great comedy value of a unique kind that you're not likely to find elsewhere.

Out of all the webcomics on the web, few can get away with Stick figures and black and white coloring. XKCD does however, and it does it very well indeed. You'd have to be a bit of a geek to appreciate some of the jokes, but if you do get them. Just, wow. Occasionally the author puts together such complex jokes it makes you wonder where a person gets the time to put it all together. But when you understand it, you will appreciate it all that much more.

It's a black and white comic for the most part, but colors and even animation is used so and then.

XKCD could be considered a comic for the smart people among us, but that doesn't mean you're stupid if you don't understand the jokes. It just means you aren't understanding the complexity of the fine art of the joke that the author put together ;)

By the words of the author:* Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Do not be discouraged by the fact that it'd black and white, this comic is a masterpiece of the internet that is soon approaching it's 1000th update. Read XKCD now!

I mentioned the top two ranked comics on TWC earlier, and Two Kinds is generally second, sometimes first on that list. (The other was Goblins)

Two Kinds has been running since about 2003, and the art (like most long running comics) has evolved. The fun part in this case, is that the author started the comic a the age of 15, now 23 - and the comic has grown immensely - as it's rank on TWC shows. Be sure to also check his Deviant account.

It is a furry comic as the dominant races in the world are Humans, Keidran (cat people) and Basitins (dog people). There are dragons as well, plenty of magic use and, well I don't like summing up too much. You should simply read it ;)

The comic starts with the main character waking up with memory loss in a grassy field, soon he becomes aware of one of the other main characters in the comic - Flora, who will grow into the role of his girlfriend later on. As the story progresses Trace (the lead character) shows to have a dark past he dimply remembers.

They travel together and meet up with various other characters, some of who will travel with the pair. As the story progresses Trace will recover more of his past's deeds. Good and bad alike.

Two Kinds is a cute adventure / love story on the co-existence and respect between races. In this case Humans, Keidran and Basitins. The art is colorful, and the magic is very nicely done. I can highly recommend checking it out.

Girl Genius - one of the top steampunk web comics on the web. Featuring the story of Agatha Heterodyne, the long lost heir to a castle (and town) that has been under the iron fist of "sparks" a.k.a. mad scientists for years. The town has a way of dealing with the eccentricities of such people however, in fact it's become the center of their lives.

The story will take you along with Agatha as she discovers her lineage and finds out who her true parents were. A long quest that takes her along many ways, and find a variety of friends both human and "not quite" human. Meet heroes, quarreling lovers, and above all many crazy mechanical contraptions, and plots to kill her and take over the castle.

The comic started out with a different artist than the current, so you'll notice a difference in the art styles. Initially the comic was being published in two parts - meaning readers could start at page 1, or at page 250, and every week a page got added to each section. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 250, 251, 252 etc. Since then the two sections have caught up with each other and the story is now progressing along a single line as you would expect in any comic.

"Weird Science", mechanical marvels and a conspiracy around every corner. Girl Genius is a must-read for every Steampunk lover.

Last post was Black and White, so this one should be color again, don't you agree?

Commissioned is a "usually" color, "sometimes" Black and White comic with a variety of storylines and side stories. Most noticeably are:* The life of Obsidian* Cyberpunk* The adventures of dwarf and elf (and weretiger)

The quality varies between simple, to high quality black and white, to high quality color (As seen in the previews of this post).

There will be random jokes regarding current events, or past events of the author's life and friends. Odd stuff regarding ninjas, pirates, zombies and a mix of those three in varying degrees of fun oddity. Cat jokes, seasonal jokes, movies and many more. It is a pretty random comic all-round, yet it never ceases to amaze the casual reader. It will draw you in like a magnet.

Trick or Treat?!

Commissioned - aka The ministry of abnormality, has something for everyone. Too much perhaps. It's a very random, but interesting view into the chaotic mind of Obsidian.

Jolly Jack's got a skill to his fingers, and a mind to please all souls both perverted and curious alike. Among his creations is the comic Sequential Art, and it's among one of my favorites. It's a black and white comic, but as with most good comics that shouldn't bother you in the slightest. He's also got a DeviantArt account and a main gallery where misc colored art (and girls) can be found.

The comic itself is about a guy, his cat girlfriend, and his penguin friend. Later on the cast gets expanded to include a number of squirrel girls, a platypus pet and "the denizens".

It's been going for over 733 panels so far, and will hopefully continue for a good while yet. Many adventures have been had, and the main trio will be involved in various crazy situations not excluding: An alien invasion, investigating relics in egypt, high tech weaponry, awkward situations in the broom closet, hostile laboratories, and on and away many another.

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